General Hardware Buying Guide

General Hardware Buying Guide

Something or the other needs a repair every now and then, and every homeowner comes across situations where they see the currency slipping out of hand for small things. If you could save some dollars by not washing it off on repair-man, nothing like it! But, the initial investment needs to be done on buying general hardware tools.

Let’s see what primary things should go inside your hardware kit.

Screws

Screws come in numerous shapes and sizes, and are required for almost every repair work. They are used for connecting two surfaces. For joining two things by using a screw, use a screw that is thrice the length of the hole which it needs to occupy. Some screws are threaded, while some are not. Similarly, some are tapered while some would not be. The choice of screws secondly depends on the surface where it’s going to be installed. If the surface is wood, the flat screw would do, while if surface is metallic, a threaded one is needed to fit deep inside the surface and hold it tighter. Screws could be expensive as compared to the nails; they are used for their strength. Also, they are resistant to most weather conditions.

Nuts and Bolts

Next important fastener to screws is a pack of nuts and bolts. Their major function is to hold things together. Nuts and bolts are fixed together, and ideally a nut is fixed inside a surface by using a bolt. The bolt comes in various shapes and sizes. They could be round, four-edged, or hexagonal, but fixing a nut with them depends on the shape and make of the nut. The general method of using a nut and bolt is to fix a nut inside a bolt, and rotate it while pushing it deep with a wrench or a hammer.

Nails

These are the basic objects used in regular repair-work. For hanging any paintings on the wall, or for fixing any furniture, nails make the basic objects of every hardware kit. They are cheap in price, and come in various shapes and sizes. Their difference in shapes and sizes determines the kind of nail a task requires. The thick ones need a drill to be fixed in, while thin one could be nailed with a hammer as well. As they are cheap in price, they could be bought in a pack of many nails of different shapes and sizes.

Connectors

Used to keep two metallic surfaces together, metal connectors keep surfaces of a house together. Metal connectors are fixed through nut-bolts or screws through the holes given on them.